December 16, 2020 - South side

December 12th, 2020 (Wednesday) 1:15pm - 3:15pm.
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights intersection to first stop sign.

88 dead newts (of which 6 were juveniles), 0 live newts. A majority were dry, maybe 20% fresh.
Other roadkill: None noticed, aside from the fading skunk.

Weather: Mid 60s, partly cloudy, rain coming tonight.
Rainfall: MTD 1.46in, YTD 2.39in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2021)

Traffic: 4 trucks (1 MidPen), 20 cars, 6 bicycles, 0 peds.

Pit traps: No newts, one Darkling Beetle.
There are now pink flags on either side of the pit traps that may be 50' demarcation (looks about right.)

And something odd... Part of the road was recently repaved, so the center lines were re-painted. The line-painter went right over a dead newt which was adhered to the road. I took a photo as they were, then dutifully peeled it off, leaving a shadow that will endure for years. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66678920

Posted on December 17, 2020 02:04 AM by newtpatrol newtpatrol

Comments

88 is the most that has been recorded so far this year, right? Especially in such a short part of the road.

Posted by parped over 3 years ago

@parped, this is the highest count this year for the southern part of Alma Bridge Rd. However, look at the numbers for the northern part on the same day (12/16/20). All the observations haven't been uploaded yet, but it looks like close to 150 for that section of road.

@newtpatrol, @merav, it's very curious that so many corpses look dessicated after only a few days (the last survey was done on Saturday, Dec. 12). It's not at all what I'd expect. I wonder if the freezing weather had anything to do with it? Do you have any theories about this?

Posted by truthseqr over 3 years ago

@truthseqr I was curious about so many very dry newts too. At risk of sounding callous, I learned that day that newt crackers can fly like frisbees. Freezing seems like a plausible cause, and I don't have a better one, but did it freeze there? I'm looking on Weather Underground at a couple of weather stations relatively nearby the study area, and their minimum reported temperature is ~39F (like this one: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCALOSGA283/graph/2020-12-17/2020-12-17/monthly). But they're not exactly on the road, so may not be indicative.

Posted by newtpatrol over 3 years ago

@newtpatrol, I don't know if it froze there at Lexington. I've been sitting in my warm cozy Sunnyvale home looking at frost on the rooftops in the mornings. Since there isn't a weather station at Lexington, I guess we have to rely on one of the nearby stations for an approximation.

I'm a curious creature by nature and I wonder about these things... I was just throwing out a possible explanation to see if anyone else has a theory.

This kinda throws shade on my decomposition theory that the orange belly color fades within 3 days. Many of the carcasses you all found this week look like they've been on the road for several weeks. It makes me wonder if I disregarded similar newt roadkill when I was out doing surveys and thus undercounted the total roadkill??? I dread making mistakes like that.

Posted by truthseqr over 3 years ago

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